Elgar, Edward - E - Composers Composers The Specialists for Classical Music CDs | Vinyl | SACDs | Blu-rays | DVDs Elgar, Edward Elgar, Edward Sir Edward Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO born 2nd June 1857 was an English composer. His first major orchestral work, Enigma Variations, was greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. His compositions also include the Pomp and Circumstance Marches of which No. 1 is often sung to the words "Land of Hope and Glory", notably at The Last Night of the Proms. He was appointed Master of the King`s Musick in 1924. Edward William Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Ann.

His delightful Salut d`Amour, one of his earliest successes, dates from 1889, when Elgar had just turned 30: this proved to be a year of great happiness for him, for at that time he married Caroline Alice Roberts - a lady who was to mean so much to him as man and musician. It is not too fanciful to hear, in this charming piece, a musical manifestation of his love for her. In the earlier part of Elgar`s career as a composer, he wrote several short pieces which became very popular indeed. Chanson de Matin is one such, the second of a pair (the other being Chanson de nuit), which carried his name far and wide before his larger orchestra works appeared. It was published in several versions at once: for string orchestra, for small orchestra, for violin and piano and so on - so it is almost impossible to say, with any degree of certainty, which was the original version. But Elgar himself was a good violinist, and it may well be that he would have played this tune through to himself on the violin, before adding a piano part and sending it off to his publishers for their consideration.

In any event, it remains a beautiful theme of considerable character and style. If Elgar waited until he was 42 before his major breakthrough, his fame spread rapidly: so much so that by the outbreak of World War 1 he was arguably the most celebrated living British composer, whose reputation had been cemented by a succession of large scale choral and orchestral works. In a curious way, the War changed Elgar - as it touched all Europeans - as his public and private utterances became more sharply defined. During the War Elgar produced, on the one hand, a series of great patriotic works, and on the other, as the War came to its end, a series of three great chamber compositions: the Violin Sonata opus 82, the String Quartet opus 83 and the Piano Quintet opus 84. At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion. He died on 23 February 1934. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead.

Edward Elgar Edward Elgar Sir Edward Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Biography Early years Edward William Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Ann. The fourth of six children, Edward Elgar had three brothers, Henry, Frederick and Francis, and two sisters, Lucy and Susannah. His mother, Ann, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic. Surrounded by sheet music and instruments in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music.

On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature. As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require." Having left school at the age of 15, he began work for a local solicitor, but after a year embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996. In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Sixth Symphony and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton.

Elgar was thrilled by Dvořák's orchestration and this remained an influence on his own style for more than a decade.[citation needed] At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, a Major-General's daughter (shades of Gilbert and Sullivan) and an author of verse and prose fiction. He married her three years later against the wishes of her family, giving her as an engagement present the short violin and piano piece Salut d'amour. The Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching. Growing reputation During the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands. The Black Knight, King Olaf (1896), The Light of Life and Caractacus were all modestly successful and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company.

In 1899, at the age of 42, his first major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, was premiered in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. It was received with general acclaim, establishing Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. This work is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six measures of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the "original theme", the 'enigma' theme, which Elgar said 'runs through and over the whole set' is never heard. Many later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss. Indeed, the Enigma Variations were well-received in Germany. The following year saw the production at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of his choral setting of Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius.

Despite a disastrous first performance due to poorly-prepared performers, the work was established within a few years as one of Elgar's greatest, and it is now regarded as one of the finest examples of English choral music from any era. Elgar is probably best known for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, composed between 1901 and 1930. Shortly after he composed the first march, Elgar set the trio melody to words by A C Benson as a Coronation Ode to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The suggestion had already been made (allegedly by the future King himself) that words should be fitted to the broad tune which formed the trio section of this march. Against the advice of his friends, Elgar suggested that Benson furnish further words to allow him to include it in the new work. The result was Land of Hope and Glory, which formed the finale of the ode and was also issued (with slightly different words) as a separate song. Between 1902 and 1914 Elgar enjoyed phenomenal success, made four visits to the USA including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music.

Between 1905 and 1908 Elgar held the post of Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. His lectures there caused controversy owing to remarks he made about other English composers and English music in general; he was quoted as saying "English music is white - it evades everything". The University of Birmingham's Special Collections contain an archive of letters written by Elgar. Elgar's Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one hundred performances in its first year, the violin concerto (1910) was commissioned by the world-renowned violinist Fritz Kreisler, and in 1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him. Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral and choral, but he did write for soloists and smaller instrumental groups. His one work for brass band, The Severn Suite (later arranged by the composer for orchestra), remains an important part of the brass band repertoire. This work was dedicated to his friend George Bernard Shaw.

It is occasionally performed in its arrangement by Sir Ivor Atkins for organ as the composer's second Organ Sonata; Elgar's first, much earlier (1895) Organ Sonata was written specifically for the instrument in a highly orchestral style, and remains a frequently-performed part of the English Romantic organ repertoire. Later years During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. After the death of his wife in 1920 he wrote little of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto. Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick. Elgar and the young Yehudi Menuhin discuss the violin concerto, recorded in 1932 (HMV) Elgar's recordings of his violin concerto and the Enigma Variations have been reissued on CD by EMIHe was the first composer to make extensive recordings of his own compositions.

HMV (His Master's Voice) recorded much of his music acoustically, then began a series of electrical recordings in 1926 that continued until 1933, including his "Enigma Variations," "Falstaff," the first and second symphonies, his cello and violin concertos, all of the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and other orchestral works. Part of a 1927 rehearsal of the second symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was also recorded and later issued. In the 1932 recording of the violin concerto, the aging composer worked with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who was then only 16 years old; they worked well together and Menuhin warmly recalled his association with the composer years later, when he performed the concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Menuhin went on to record an award-winning version of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. Elgar's recordings usually featured such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the New Symphony Orchestra of London, and the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra.

Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor. In later years, EMI reissued the recordings on LPs and CDs. At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion. He died on 23 February 1934 and is buried at St. Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead. The statue of Edward Elgar at the end of Worcester High Street Legacy Bank of England £20 note (1999–2007)The house in Lower Broadheath where Elgar was born is now a museum devoted to his life and work. The statue of him at the end of Worcester High Street stands facing the cathedral, only yards from where his father's shop once stood. Another statue of the composer is at the top of Church Street in Malvern, overlooking the town and giving visitors an opportunity to stand next to the composer in the shadow of the Hills which he so often regarded.

In September 2005, a statue sculpted by Jemma Pearson was unveiled near Hereford Cathedral in honour of the few years Elgar lived in the city. From 1999 until early 2007, new Bank of England twenty pound notes featured a portrait of Elgar: from then, a new series of notes featured a portrait of Adam Smith. The change generated controversy, particularly because 2007 was the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth. Elgar's sketches for his third symphony were elaborated in the 1990s by the composer Anthony Payne, who has also subsequently produced a performing version of the sketches for a sixth Pomp and Circumstance march, premiered at the Proms in August 2006. Elgar's sketches for a piano concerto dating from 1913 were elaborated by the composer Robert Walker and first performed in August 1997 by the pianist David Owen Norris. The realisation has since been extensively revised. The hit track Clubbed To Death by Rob Dougan, featured on soundtrack to the 1999 movie The Matrix, is partially based on Enigma Variations.

Venetian Snares used samples from Elgar's "Cello Concerto In E Minor, Op. 85" on the track Szamár Madár on his album Rossz Csillag Alatt Született. Honours and awards 1904 - Elgar was made a knight bachelor. This entitled him to the title 'Sir Edward Elgar', but no post-nominal letters. 1911 - he was admitted to the Order of Merit. He was now 'Sir Edward Elgar OM'. 1924 - he was made Master of the King's Musick 1925 - he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society 1928 - Elgar was created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, becoming 'Sir Edward Elgar OM KCVO'. 1931 - he was made a baronet, becoming 'Sir Edward Elgar Bt OM KCVO'. A baronetcy is an hereditary honour, but is passed on only through the male line. As Elgar had only a daughter, the baronetcy became extinct on his death. 1933 - Elgar was promoted within the Royal Victorian Order to Knight Grand Cross.

He was now 'Sir Edward Elgar Bt OM GCVO'. Between 1900 and 1931 Elgar received honorary degrees from the Universities of Cambridge, Durham, Leeds, Oxford, Yale (USA), Aberdeen, Western Pennsylvania (USA), Birmingham and London. Foreign academies of which he was made a member were Regia Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome; Accademia del Reale Istituto Musicale, Florence; Académie des Beaux Arts, Paris; Institut de France; American Academy of Arts. Works Music History 102 Music History 102: Nationalist Composers The nineteenth century was a time in which passionate nationalism was prevalent and which saw many political upheavals. Influenced by such "nationalistic" works as the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Franz Liszt , composers from many European countries became determined to develop a "national style" of music for their homeland. To do this they turned to the dances, folk songs, history, and national legends of their countries as a basis for their musical compositions.

Of the countries that fostered a growth of such a movement, Russia , Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), Finland , Spain , England , and the young United States of America produced several outstanding nationalist composers. Modest Mussorgsky Born: Karevo, Pskov district, March 21, 1839 Died: St. Petersburg, March 28, 1881 In Russia, a group of composers emerged that was dubbed "The Mighty Five" by music critics of the day because of their attempts to endow Russia with music of a national flavor. Of these five, the most influential were undoubtedly Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and Modest Mussorgsky. Lacking a true musical training, Mussorgsky relied on his own unique sense of harmony and orchestration, and composed works of rare, unusual, and stark emotion.

He completed only a few of his works, among them the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition, (later brilliantly transcribed for orchestra by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)), the song cycle Songs and Dances of Death, and what is considered the supreme masterpiece of Russian opera, Boris Godunov. The opera is based on a tragedy by the Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin, and concerns the rise to power of Czar Boris and his tragic reign and downfall. The Coronation scene from "Boris Godunov" is an example of Mussorgsky's use of orchestral color to imitate the ringing bells of the Kremlin during the crowning of Boris. Many of Mussorgsky's works were "touched up" and re-scored after his death by such composers as Rimsky-Korsakov. In their original scoring, however, one can fully appreciate the crude power and emotionalism Mussorgsky sought to bring to them, as in this performance of A Night on Bald Mountain , a symphonic poem representing a Witches' Sabbath on a haunted mountaintop.

Antonín Dvorák Born: Mühlhausen, September 8, 1841 Died: Prague, May 1, 1904 Certainly the greatest composer that Bohemia produced, Dvorák's fame as a musician spread during his lifetime throughout Europe and to America, where he served as artistic director of the National Conservatory in New York City from 1892 to1895. Composing music in almost every conceivable genre during his career, many of his chamber works, symphonies, and concertos have entered the general repertory. The use of Bohemian folk dances in many of his works is typical, and among Dvorák's most successful works are two sets of Slavonic Dances, originally composed for piano, four-hands, and which he later orchestrated. One of the most exciting of these is the Slavonic Dance, op. 46 no. 8. His nine symphonies are infused with the flavor of the Bohemian countryside, even his most famous, the Symphony No. 9 in E minor, nicknamed "From the New World".

It is in the third movements of many of these symphonies where Dvorák gives free rein to the music of his homeland, as he does in the Symphony no. 7 in D minor. Jean Sibelius Born: Hämeenlinna, December 8, 1865 Died: Järvenpää, September 20, 1957 Undoubtedly Finland's greatest composer, Sibelius made his name principally as the composer of seven symphonies, a violin concerto, and a number of symphonic poems. He also wrote a great many songs and pieces for piano, but today these are known mainly in Finland only. Although he never actually quoted folk songs in his music and used traditional harmonies, by concentrating on Finnish legends and fiercely allying himself with Finnish nationalism, Sibelius became something of a national hero during his lifetime. He achieved renown in his own country with the composition of his tone poem Finlandia, a work of patriotic fervor not unlike the 1812 Overture of Tchaikovsky .

But Sibelius' true art is found among the symphonies, in which he developed a personal style of creating structures from fragments and bits of melody, synthesizing them during the course of a movement, such as in the final movement of the Symphony no. 5, op. 82. Born: Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, October 12, 1872 Died: London, August 26, 1958 Since the death of Henry Purcell (1649-1694), England had been called "the land without music." Throughout the eighteenth- and for much of the nineteenth centuries, England produced no composers of any real consequence and made due by importing some of Europe's finest and making them their own. Such composers as Handel , Haydn , and Mendelssohn had been extremely popular in England and wrote a great deal of excellent music for the British public. But it was not until the middle to late 1800s that a school of British composers began to emerge to rescue English music from a native slumber of over a hundred years.

Studying music mostly in his native England (although he did work for a time with Maurice Ravel in Paris), Vaughan Williams became extremely interested in British folk song, and incorporated several folk melodies into some of his orchestral compositions. The composer of nine symphonies, of which the "London" Symphony No. 2 is probably the most famous, Vaughan Williams also composed music for film and radio, choral works, and chamber music. His interest in the music of Great Britain's cultural heritage extended to music of the Tudor and Elizabethan ages, and one of his greatest compositions is also one of his earliest, the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. The work is scored for strings only, itself a curiously English phenomenon, while the melody of the fantasia is in one of the ancient Greek modes. Vaughan Williams' scoring allows for some very effective echo effects, as though the work were being heard in a great cathedral.

The turn of the century saw a number of emerging musical talents in Great Britain, including Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), Frederic Delius (1862-1934), Gustav Holst (1874-1934), and later Benjamin Britten . Manuel de Falla Born: 1876 Died: 1946 Spain awoke from years of musical slumber with the advent of Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), who wrote much music with a Spanish flavor for piano solo. Following in Albéniz' footsteps were Enrique Granados (1867-1916), Joaquin Rodrigo (b. 1901), and Manuel de Falla. The final dance from the latter's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat is of unmistakably Spanish origin, as is the music of each of these composers. Perhaps not surprisingly, much of the music of these composers has been very successfully transcribed for the guitar by such masters of the instrument as Julian Bream, Andres Segovia, and John Williams.

Charles Ives Born: Danbury, Conn., October 20, 1874 Died: New York, May 19, 1954 Music in early America had a distinctly British heritage, as much of the music of the American colonists consisted of English hymns and anthems. Later many American-born musicians went to Europe for their musical training, where they learned and absorbed the Old World traditions. Upon returning to the United States, American composers began infusing these traditional musical forms with styles that were inherent to America, among them African-American spirituals, blues, jazz, and ragtime, in an attempt to create a truly "American classical music." Although the United States produced several popular composers throughout the nineteenth century (including song-writer Stephen Foster (1826-1864), pianist-composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869), band leader John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), and jazz and ragtime composer Scott Joplin (1868-1917)) the first true great American composer would undoubtedly have to be Charles Ives.

An American original who composed music using experimental techniques and ideas, Ives made his living as a prosperous insurance salesman. He studied music formally at Yale, but much of this music was never performed until after 1930, by which time Ives had ceased composing. Much of his music, including four symphonies, many orchestral pieces, piano and chamber works, incorporate traditional American hymns, songs and dance tunes. Ives sets these, however, using polyrhythms and polytonality, making much use of dissonant harmonies and tone clusters. One such work is "Putnam's Camp" from Three Places in New England, in which one hears a brass band, a march tune, and an out-of-tune piano occurring at the same time within the first minute of the piece. Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for his Symphony No. 3, which he had composed in 1904. With the late "discovery" of Ives' music, the path was cleared for a new breed of twentieth century American composers .

Music History 102: a Guide to Western Composers and their music Designed, compiled and created by Robert Sherrane Sir Edward Elgar’s Biography — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm Listeners Biography Edward William Elgar , 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. He was knighted at Buckingham Palace on 5 July 1904 and appointed Master of the King's Music in 1924. Edward Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Anne (née Greening). He was the fourth of seven children. His mother, Anne, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic.

Elgar was an early riser, and would often turn to reading Voltaire, Drayton, historical classics, Longfellow and other works encouraged by his mother. By the age of eight, he was taking piano and violin lessons, and would often listen to his father playing organ at St. George's church, and soon took it up also. His prime interest, however, was the violin, and his first written music was for that instrument. Surrounded by sheet music, instruments, and music textbooks in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music theory. On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature. As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require." At the age of 15, Elgar had hoped to go to Leipzig, Germany to study music, but lacking the funds, he instead left school and began working for a local solicitor.

Around this time he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. After a few months, he left the solicitor and embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons, and working occasionally in his father's shop. Elgar was an active member of the Worcester Glee Club, along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played violin, composed and arranged works, and even conducted for the first time. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester, a progressive institution which believed in the recuperative powers of music. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996. In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 6 and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton.

As part of a wind quintet and for his musical friends, he arranged dozens of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and other masters, honing his arranging and compositional skills, and applying them to his earliest pieces. Although somewhat solitary and introspective by nature, Elgar thrived in Worcester's musical circles. In his first trips abroad in 1880-2, Elgar visited Paris and Leipzig, attended concerts by first rate orchestras, and was exposed to Wagnerism, then the rage. Returning to his more provincial milieu increased his desire for a wider fame. He often went to London in an attempt to get his works published, but this period in his life found him frequently despondent and low on money. He wrote to a friend in April 1884, "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever…I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability…I have no money–not a cent." At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Henry Roberts and a published author of verse and prose fiction.

Eight years older than Elgar, she became his wife three years later against the wishes of her family. Her faith in him and her courage in marrying 'beneath her class' were strongly supportive to his career. She dealt with his mood swings and was a generous musical critic. Alice was also his business manager and social secretary. She did her best to gain him the attention of influential society, though with limited success. In time he would learn to accept the honours given him, realizing that they mattered more to her and her social class. She also gave up some of her personal aspirations to further his career. In her diary she later admitted, "The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman." As an engagement present, Elgar presented her with the short violin and piano piece Salut d'amour. With Alice's encouragement, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching and conducting local musical ensembles.

Though disappointed at the London episode, the return to the country proved better for Elgar's health and as a base of musical inspiration, bringing him closer to nature and to his friends. During the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands. The Black Knight and King Olaf (1896), both inspired by Longfellow, The Light of Life and Caractacus were all modestly successful and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company. He also generously recommended the young composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to the Three Choirs Festival for a concert piece, which helped establish the younger man's career. Elgar was catching the eyes of the prominent critics, although their reviews were still lukewarm, and he was in demand as a festival composer, but he was just getting by financially and not feeling appreciated the way he wanted to be. In 1898, he continued to be "very sick at heart over music" and hoped to find a way to succeed with a larger work.

His friend Jaeger tried to lift his spirits, "A day's attack of the blues…will not drive away your desire, your necessity, which is to exercise those creative faculties which a kind providence has given you. Your time of universal recognition will come." In 1899, that prediction suddenly came true. At the age of 42, Elgar's produced his first major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, which was premièred in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. In Elgar's own words, "I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme. The Variations have amused me because I've labelled them with the nicknames of my particular friends…that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent the mood of the 'party' (the person)… and have written what I think they would have written–if they were asses enough to compose". Elgar dedicated the work "To my friends pictured within". The large-scale work was received with general acclaim, heralded for its originality, charm, and fine craftsmanship, and it established Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation.

It is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six measures of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the "original theme", the 'enigma' theme, which Elgar said 'runs through and over the whole set' is never heard. Many later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss. Indeed, the Enigma Variations were well-received in Germany, and persist to this day as a world-wide concert favourite. The following year saw the production at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of his choral setting of Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius. Despite a disastrous first performance due to poorly-prepared performers, the German première was much better received and the work was established within a few years as one of Elgar's greatest. It is now regarded as one of the finest examples of English choral music from any era.

Elgar is probably best known for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, composed between 1901 and 1930. Shortly after he composed the first march, Elgar set the trio melody to words by A. C. Benson as a Coronation Ode to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The suggestion had already been made (allegedly by the future King himself) that words should be fitted to the broad tune which formed the trio section of this march. Against the advice of his friends, Elgar suggested that Benson furnish further words to allow him to include it in the new work. The result was Land of Hope and Glory, which formed the finale of the ode and was also issued (with slightly different words) as a separate song. The work was immensely popular and became a second national anthem. At last, he had made the leap from accomplished back-country musician to England's foremost composer. It also gained Elgar the highest recognition he could have dreamed of–honorary degrees, a knighthood, special royal audiences, and a triumphal three-day festival of his music at Covent Garden attended by the King and Queen.

Between 1902 and 1914 Elgar enjoyed phenomenal success, made four visits to the USA including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music. Between 1905 and 1908 Elgar held the post of Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. His lectures there caused controversy owing to remarks he made about other English composers and English music in general; he was quoted as saying "English music is white - it evades everything". The University of Birmingham's Special Collections contain an archive of letters written by Elgar. His new life as a celebrity was a mixed blessing as it often provoked ill-health from his high-strung nature and interrupted his privacy. He complained to Jaeger in 1903, "My life is one continual giving up of little things which I love." Elgar's Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one hundred performances in its first year, the violin concerto (1910) was commissioned by the world-renowned violinist Fritz Kreisler, and in 1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him.

In 1912, he moved back to London, again to be closer to musical society but to the detriment of his love of the countryside and to his general mood. Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral and choral, but he did write for soloists and smaller instrumental groups. His one work for brass band, The Severn Suite (later arranged by the composer for orchestra), remains an important part of the brass band repertoire. This work was dedicated to his friend George Bernard Shaw. It is occasionally performed in its arrangement by Sir Ivor Atkins for organ as the composer's second Organ Sonata; Elgar's first, much earlier (1895) Organ Sonata was written specifically for the instrument in a highly orchestral style, and remains a cornerstone of the English Romantic organ repertoire. During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. The war was overturning his world and his time. He himself grew to hate his 'Pomp and Circumstance' March No.1 with its popular 'Land of Hope and Glory' tune, which he felt had been made into a jingoistic song, not in keeping with the tragic loss of life in the war. This was captured in the film Elgar by Ken Russell.

After the death of his wife in 1920, loneliness and declining interest in his art fostered little in the way of new works of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto, often described as his last masterpiece. Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick. He was the first composer to make extensive recordings of his own compositions. HMV (His Master's Voice) recorded much of his music acoustically from 1914 onwards and then began a series of electrical recordings in 1926 that continued until 1933, including his "Enigma Variations," "Falstaff," the first and second symphonies, his cello and violin concertos, all of the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and other orchestral works. Part of a 1927 rehearsal of the second symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was also recorded and later issued.

Elgar's recordings of his violin concerto and the Enigma Variations have been reissued on CD by EMIIn November 1931, Elgar was filmed by Pathe for a newsreel depicting a recording session of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 at the opening of the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. It is believed to be the only surviving sound film of Elgar, who makes a brief remark before conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, asking the musicians to "play this like you've never played it before." Silent films of the composer have also survived. In the 1932 recording of the violin concerto, the ageing composer worked with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who was then only 16 years old; they worked well together and Menuhin warmly recalled his association with the composer years later, when he performed the concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Menuhin later conducted an award-winning recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and much of the major orchestral music.

Elgar's recordings usually featured such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra (which reverted in 1928 to its earlier name, New Symphony Orchestra) and, in 1933, the newly-founded London Philharmonic Orchestra. Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor. In later years, EMI reissued the recordings on LP and CD. In his later years, Elgar befriended young conductors such as Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent who championed his music when it was out of fashion. At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion. He died on 23 February 1934 and is buried at St. Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead.

Works Cello concerto 1st movement by Elgar Price $37.00 Sir Edward Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 â 23 February 1934) was an English composer. One of his first major orchestral works, Enigma Variations, was greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. His compositions also include the Pomp and Circumstance Marches of which the trio of No. 1 is often sung to the words "Land of Hope and Glory", notably at The Last Night of the Proms. He was appointed Master of the King's Music in 1924. During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. After the death of his wife in 1920 he wrote little of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto. Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick.

At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion. He died on 23 February 1934. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead. BBC NEWS | UK | England | Hereford/Worcs | Elgar's 150th anniversary marked Elgar's 150th anniversary marked Elgar was born in Worcestershire and died in 1934 Special performances have taken place to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain's greatest composers, Sir Edward Elgar. Elgar, who was born near Worcester, is famous for a string of symphonies and concertos, with Land of Hope and Glory among his best-known scores. Julian Lloyd Webber performed his Cello Concerto at Worcester Cathedral and later at London's Royal Albert Hall. Mr Lloyd Webber travelled between the two venues by helicopter.

It's a huge challenge to play such a emotional piece twice in one day and in two different locations Julian Lloyd Webber It is the first time the world-renowned cellist, who is the brother of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, has performed at two separate locations with such restricted time constraints. Before his performances he said: "We do not have a huge number of inspirational great composers and of them, Elgar is the greatest so it's an important anniversary for Britain. "It's a huge challenge to play such a emotional piece twice in one day and in two different locations." In Worcester, Mr Lloyd Webber was joined by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a special gala anniversary celebration. Married pupil Elsewhere, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performed Elgar's three oratorios at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Elgar, who was born in Broadheath, a village three miles from Worcester, was largely a self-taught composer, and is said to have studied music manuscripts in the countryside on his own as a boy. He grew up surrounded by music - his father, a tradesman, owned a music shop and was a piano tuner.

Elgar, who also taught the violin and played the organ, married one of his pupils, Caroline Alice Roberts, in 1889. He died in 1934 - the same year as two other English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius.

Question: Three famous English composers died in 1934 - Elgar and Delius were two, who was the third?
Answer: Gustav Holst